1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting apparatus for vehicles such as motor vehicles, and more specifically, to a vehicle lighting apparatus comprising lamp deflection angle controlling means for controlling the changes in direction of beam of the lamp corresponding to the traveling conditions, for example, an adaptive front-lighting system (hereinafter referred to as AFS). More specifically, the present invention to a vehicle lighting apparatus ensuring traffic safety with the vehicle halted.
2. Description of the Related Art
The AFS proposed for enhancing driving safety of motor vehicles detects information on the steering angle of the steering wheel SW of the motor vehicles, the vehicle speed, and other traveling conditions of the motor vehicles by the sensor 1, and outputs the detected output to the electronic control unit 2 (hereinafter referred to as ECU) as shown in FIG. 1. The ECU 2 controls the swivel type lights 3R, 3L provided respectively on the left and right of the front portion of the motor vehicle, that is, the headlamps 3 that the direction of radiation can be deflected in the lateral direction based on the supplied sensor outputs. Such swivel type lights 3R, 3L may include, as a structure that can turn the reflector provided in the headlamp in the horizontal direction, a structure that can turn the reflector by the driving source such as a motor or the like. A mechanism for this turning is referred to as an actuator in this specification. According to the AFS in this type, by detecting the steering angle of the steering wheel or the lighting condition of the turn signal lamps while the vehicle is traveling on the curved road, and controlling the deflection of the direction of radiation of the swivel type light, the portion of the road ahead of the curve can be illuminated corresponding to the traveling speed of the motor vehicle, thereby being effective in improvement of driving safety.
However, when the vehicle provided with the AFS is stopped with the steering wheel steered, or with the turn signal lamp turned on, or when traveling at very low speeds not more than 5 km/h, which is almost in the state of coming to stop (hereinafter, both of the halted state and the traveling state at very low speeds are referred to as halted state in this specification.), the direction of radiation of the swivel type light is maintained in the deflected state while the vehicle is in the halted state. Therefore, the light is irradiated from the swivel type light continuously in a specific direction, that is, in the deflected direction while the vehicle is in the halted state, which may cause the unfavorable conditions in terms of traffic safety. For example, when the vehicle is stopped on the road shoulder along the sidewalk, the light from the swivel type light may dazzle the oncoming cars or the pedestrians, or the traffic lane being next to the road shoulder is illuminated, which gives the fear of insecurity to the trailing car that the car on the road shoulder may come into the traffic lane. In this way, keeping the swivel type light on in the halted state causes traffic safety problems for pedestrians or other cars. In this case, it is conceivable that the swivel type light is turned off when in the halted state, but only by turning off the lamp, if the swivel type light is turned off in the case where the vehicle is halted until the oncoming cars are discontinued with the steering wheel steered before turning to the right, the traffic safety problems for the oncoming cars may arise.
The object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle lighting apparatus in which dazzling of other cars or pedestrians due to the AFS is prevented and traffic safety is ensured.
According to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle lighting apparatus comprising lamp deflection angle controlling means for controlling the changes of the deflection angle of the auxiliary lamp attached to the main lamp and controlling the deflection angle of the auxiliary lamp corresponding to the traveling condition of the vehicle, further comprising vehicle halted state detecting means for detecting the halted state of the vehicle, and illumination controlling means for turning off or dimming the auxiliary lamp when the halted state of the vehicle is continued for more than the prescribed time period. Here, the illumination controlling means is adapted to turn the auxiliary lamp again at the same brightness as before it is turned off or before dimmed when the vehicle came out of the halted state. The lamp deflection angle controlling means is preferably adapted to continue the deflecting operation of the auxiliary lamp as long as the halted state of the vehicle is continued.
According to the present invention, when the vehicle is in the halted state including the halted state or the state of traveling at very low speed with the auxiliary lamp of the vehicle deflected and such halted state is continued for a prescribed time period, the auxiliary lamp is turned off or dimmed. Therefore, other cars or pedestrians are prevented from being dazzled by the auxiliary lamp, or the trailing cars are prevented from having a feeling of insecurity, and on the other hand, the illumination of the auxiliary lamp may be maintained when turning to the right or the like, thereby ensuring traffic safety. In addition, when the vehicle starts to travel and thus came out of the halted state, the auxiliary lamp is illuminated at the same brightness as before it is turned off or before dimmed, and since the deflecting operation of the auxiliary lamp is continuously made while the vehicle is in the halted state, traffic safety can be enhanced by the auxiliary lamp when the vehicle starts to travel again.